


A father's love

by Reading_and_Writing



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2017-10-06
Packaged: 2018-12-22 22:21:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11976240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reading_and_Writing/pseuds/Reading_and_Writing
Summary: This is meant to be a collection of One Shots about some male characters of Game of Thrones and the children that changed their lives. The love of a father can be as strong as the love of a mother, and this love can be strong also if the child is not actually yours.1 Eddard Stark regrets not being there when Robb was born.2 Jaimie Lannister cannot openly show his feelings for his children.3 Robb Stark's child is not even born and he already feels he loves it.4 Jon Snow fears he wouldn't be a good father.5 Sandor Clegane decides to protect Sansa and Arya.6 Sir Davos gives to Shereen all the love she never received.7 Tyrion is haertbroken for the death of Mircella and Tommen.8 Jaqen H'ghar tries to protect Arya.9 Tiwyin Lannister loves his children. All of them.10 Sirio Forel trains Arya and that little girl makes him smile again.11 Lord Commander Mormont loved his son and he still does.12 Robert Baratheon knows, deep inside his haert, that he loves his children.13 Stannis Baratheon loves his daughter, but he doesn't know how to be a father.14 Tormund will blame himself for Ygritte's death for the rest of his life.





	1. Love above all

Eddard Stark had always put honor and duty above everything else. Honor and duty pushed him to leave his pregnant wife in Winterfell to join Robert and his rebellion.  
He was holding his sister's son and honor and duty demanded that he revealed his true identity. That day for the first time in his entire life he decided that honor and duty could wait, he decided to choose love. Still, holding that little creature in his arms reminded him of his wife, of his firstborn son. His duty, as a father and as the Lord of Winterfell, was to present his child to his people, to give him a name. Instead he was holding the baby that was going to be, in the eyes of everyone, his bastard son, the proof of his lack of honor.  
We he arrived back in Winterfell he held his first son and legitimate heir of the North in his arms and the baby smiled at him, waving his fists and then trying to catch his father's fingers. Ned looked down at his son and then turned to his wife.  
«He is perfect». His wife nodded and smiled back at him.  
«He needs a name, Ned. We have already waited long enough». His child was already two months old, Ned recalled. Two months of his life that he had spent without his father. Two months that Ned had spent fighting for honor, fulfilling his duty. And yet, he wandered, how can a man choose between love and duty? And, above all, how can a man choose which duty he should fulfill when he has more than one?  
He swore to his sister to protect the baby and now honor and duty required to keep the word, but he also swore to his wife to be honest with her. His duty was to fight beside Robert in his rebellion, but at the same time his duty was to be with his wife and son. He had chosen his friend and King instead of his wife.  
Ned Stark, the most honorable man ever, had to take a decision. He had to lie to his wife and to his best friend, he had to sentence a child to live as a bastard and to call himself Snow. This was what honor demanded and he couldn't ignore it.  
He had little Jon brought in their room, his wife deserved at least to hear that from her husband.  
«Cat, I'm sorry, I am so sorry for this» he told, holding the baby. «He his my son, a bastard I had from a woman in King's Landing» he lied. «I am not asking you to love him, I just want you to understand that it is my duty to keep him, to give him an education. He will be a Snow, but I can't pretend he's not mine». His wife turned his face from him and did not talk to him for days. The only words she told him, after days of silence, was not to talk to her about honor and duty anymore, because what he did had nothing to do with those words.  
That was the day he decided he would choose love above all. He hoped to never find himself in that position, but he swore that if the day arrived when he had to pick again, he would choose love above all. And he did. He was there when his sons and daughters were born, he was there for his wife, he was there for his firstborn son and he was there for his bastard son, too.  
Still, until the day he was beheaded, he regretted that only time when he chose duty instead of love. He regretted not being there the day Robb was born, not being able to hear his first scream as he did with all his other children. He gave him all but his presence that day and although Robb couldn't remember it, Ned was never able to forget.


	2. Gold their shrouds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaimie Lannister cannot openly show his feelings for his children.

Jaime Lannister had never got the chance to tell their children how much he loved them.  
When Cersei had told him she was pregnant the first time, Jaime didn't know what to say. He loved her sister, more than anything else, and now she was carrying his child, a child that he would have never been allowed to call son.  
During his sister pregnancy he managed to be with her. The formal excuse for that was his duty as a royal guard: he was given the order to stay with the Queen and to protect her from any danger. Jaime took that task more seriously than ever, standing by her sister's side from the very moment she got up in the morning until she retired to her room in the evenings. He was often staying in front of her door the whole night, refusing to leave anyone else in charge.  
He was more tired than he ever was in his entire life. The few moments he managed to have alone with his sister were worth all that work. A long time had passed since that days, but he could still remember the first time he had felt his son moving in his mother's belly. He could still remember the day Joffrey was born: King Robert was not in King's Landing and Jamie had been with his sister when the contraction started. At first he had seen her moving nervously on her chair while they were having a talk; after a few minutes she had started walking around the room as she used to while her back was aching. Jamie had stood up and started gently robbing her back, but after a while she had asked him to call the midwives.  
From that moment on he was told to stay out of the room, since no man was allowed inside during labor. He didn't really care about rules, he didn't even care if other men would mock him for assisting a childbirth. He had never understood why they had that stupid rule. He couldn't imagine not to be there while his child was coming to the world. The only memory he had about that half hour he spent out of that room was that he had threatened one of the midwives to let him in.  
The thing he could clearly recall was the fear that he felt when he saw his sister in so much pain and the mix of admiration, proud and respect that he started feeling for his sister and all the women out there.  
He held his sister's hand for hours, encouraging her and whispering sweet words in her ears and suddenly he heard a loud cry, his son's cry. He couldn't recall when was the last time he had weep, but he was sure he had never been so happy in his entire life. He was well aware that he wasn't supposed to look so moved for the birth of his sister's son, but in that moment he couldn't care less about protocol.  
The first time he got to hold his firstborn son he was scared: that little human been looked so fragile and he was afraid to hurt him; Joffrey immediately stopped crying, and Jamie quckliy realized he was the only living person to be able to make that happen. He could spend hours looking at him, at his sweet little face and his fists punching the air.  
With his daughter it had been different: not the emotions he felt, not the joy, the proud and the happiness; only the immediate connection he felt with the baby girl he was holding, the kind of connection a father has with his daughter. That was probably the reason why he decided to tell her the truth. His surprise was unspeakable when she told him she already knew; it was probably that kind of thing a daughter knows, or, at the very least, feels.  
Tommen had been a perfect child: well behaved, smart, sweet, a better King than many of those who came before him. Too young, perhaps, but a good King.  
He had three children and he lost all the three of them. Joffrey and Mircella had died in his arms, Tommen had committed suicide, something he blamed Cersei for.  
Nothing is worst than loosing a child, and he had to learn it the hard way. But not being allowed to weep for his children' deaths was probably the hardest part, for in the eyes of everyone else he was the uncle, not the father.  
He had never got the chance to be a father, to protect them, to teach them things about life and he regretted that more than anything he had done in his life. It was too late now, his beautiful and beloved children were gone. All of them had been bared in golden shrouds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the second chapeter. my aplogies for the delay in posting, my computer abandoned me.  
> Next chapter, if everything goes as it should, will be posted on Saturday


	3. Letter to an unborn child

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robb Stark's child is not even born and he already feels he loves it.

Robb Stark had never been good with words and that was probably the reason why he was entrusting his mother with the diplomatic affairs. At least, he was better than his half brother Jon, but that was not a great solace.  
The ultimate evidence was the hard time he was having at letting his wife Talisa know how happy he was for the child she was carrying. He was trying to show her that, for words were never enough. Suddenly he was realizing how war was tough and dangerous now that he was responsible for his child's life. In the past few days he had started to recall his childhood, the many lessons his father had taught him, the small happy moments, the dinners in the great hall, his brothers and sisters. Funny how joyful memories can make you cry.  
That evening was different: together with the happy memories, a dark thought had infiltrated his mind. He was well aware that he had just a few possibilities to come out alive form that war. That awareness had convinced him to write a long letter for his unborn child to satisfy his need to be sure that, whatever might happen to him, his son or daughter would know. When he started writing he wasn't sure what he wanted him or her to know, but, for the first time in his life, the words were coming without effort.

Dear son, dear daughter,

I hope we will be reading this together one day, laughing about my sentimentalism. The truth is that no one can predict what this war will bring and I need you to know.  
I need you to know that I loved you from the first moment, form the second your mother told me about the little life growing inside her. I am a Stark, as much as you are; but I'm also a Tully, which means I should put family before all. Then all the remaining comes: honor and duty. If I won't be able to give this letter to you, it will mean that somehow I have subverted those words at some point in my life. I beg you to forgive me.  
I want you to be happy and I want you to be loved, 'cause you will only be able to love if you have received love. I want you to learn as many things as you can from you master, I want you to read, I want you listen to wiser people.  
I want you to travel the world, to get to know other people, to visit your mother's homeland: the world is immense and beautiful. And after that I would like you to marry for love, as I did. And if by chance you will have to marry someone you don't love I want you to keep believing that love will come. In both cases, I want you to know that love is not easy: it has to be built, cared for as a beautiful garden. It requires commitment, willpower and sacrifice. If you won't be able to do it for your wife you will do it for you children. I want you to love them unconditionally, and it won't be hard 'cause a child is always a blessing from the Gods.  
I want you to be honorable as you grandfather Eddard was, I want you to be rightful. I want you to be a leader, but mind this: a leader doesn't simply give orders, a leader is there for his people, to help them, to encourage them, to make them believe they can do whatever they are asked to. If you will be a good leader, you people will be there for you when you will need them.  
One day you will rule the North in my place and I want you to do it rightfully. The North will always be your home, it enshrines our history, our traditions: do not ever forget who you are, no matter where you will go. You will have to take difficult decisions and sometimes you will make mistakes: I want you to rise again after every failure 'cause failing is part of your life.  
I wish you could have a perfect life; after all, that is what every father wants for his child. You won't have it, no one has a perfect life, but I will do anything to give you the best life possible. I wish you could never suffer a loss, but eventually you will. I want you to be strong: someone will be there for you in your darkest days, holding your hand in the darkness.  
I want you to love and respect you mother and to remember that you owe her your life. She will guide you, love you and rise you, 'cause you are the most precious thing she will ever have.

I want all this for you, no matter if you will be a boy or a girl. And if you will be a girl, I want you to know that the path you will have to take will be twice as hard. You will be told that the best weapon for a woman is the pleasure she can give to a men: do not believe those who tell you this, 'cause the women who at the end matter something never needed to show anything but their intelligence. You will be forced to do things you don't want to by men who think they are worth more than you. I hope I will be there to support you in person, but if I won't be able to do it, I want you to remember that your father will always be watching over you, also if you won't be able to see me.

There is so much more that I would like you to know. I wish I had all the paper in the world to write it down, I wish I had all the time in the world to tell you how much I love you, even if you are not even born.

Your Father

 

If Robb Stark had known what was coming for him and his family, he would have taken different decisions. He would have never put his son's life in danger on purpose and for sure he would have never forgiven himself if only he had survived.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here we go with the third chapter. I don't like too much to write in first person, but this time it just felt right. Hope you enjoyed it!

**Author's Note:**

> Here I am with the first chapter! The next ones will be longer.  
> Comments and suggestions are welcome!


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